Kathy Bates on her retirement, weight loss and age discrimination in “Matlock”

Before she landed the lead role in Matlock, Kathy Bates was “thinking about part-time retirement.” Now she may never stop.

“My friends say I'll probably be like Molière and die in my chair on stage,” says Bates, “because that's really a life force for me.”

She has worked steadily since her first role in Miloš Forman's 1971 film “Taking Off.” But it wasn't until Bates was 42 years old and won an Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of the villainous Annie Wilkes in “Misery” that everything changed.

“I always knew it would take a while to get into this business because I was not a beauty queen,” says the 76-year-old actor diversity“I have to say, I cringe when I see friends who were beauty queens and no longer work because of age discrimination. In my case, I was able to continue working for many years because I don't look like that. I don't think I would have gotten the role in 'Misery' if I had been a beauty queen.”

She quotes her character Annie Wilkes as saying, “Kathy Bates is not the movie star type.”

Now Bates, who has had a successful television career with 13 Emmy nominations and two Emmy wins, is proving again that she's the type to be a TV star — by taking the lead role in CBS's reimagining of “Matlock” (she's also an executive producer). In the legal drama, which premieres Sept. 22, Bates plays Madeline “Matty” Matlock, a lawyer in her 70s who starts working at a prestigious New York law firm. She faces age discrimination from her peers and uses it to her advantage while harboring hidden motives of her own. (There's a twist at the end of the pilot episode that shocked Bates.) The character bears “uncanny” similarities to Bates, who jokes that she sometimes wonders if showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman lives in her head.

The first season deals with controversial topics, including the #MeToo movement. In one episode, Matty is assigned the case of a young woman who claims to have been sexually abused. However, the lawyer disagrees with her client. Bates says she can understand that and “had exactly the same reaction as Matty.”

“I want to say up front that I am incredibly sympathetic to the #MeToo movement. I do think that sometimes it goes a bit too far, but I can't say that – I haven't been in its shoes,” says Bates. “I just had a different experience.”

Still, she understands what Matty means. “Matty says, 'In my day, I wouldn't have wanted to get drunk with that guy. This is ridiculous,'” says Bates. “I don't think Matty is a prude, I just don't think she really understands that things have changed so dramatically for young women.”

That's not to say Bates fully identifies with her smart-aleck character. Unlike Matty, Bates is “too much of a kiss-and-tell girl” – she shares “way too much,” even with strangers. And while she can lie on screen, she's not good at faking it in real life.

Bates had to “dig deep” when she accepted the role. She began to think about her mother. “There's a lot of my mother in Matty – or let's say a lot of what I imagined my mother could have been if she'd had the chance to pursue her dreams and become a lawyer. I think about the frustration of having that dream and seeing that dream undermined by the times she lived in,” Bates says.

Over the years, she has met many people from all walks of life – and often wondered what she would do if she had chosen a different career path.

“What could I have done with my life? What opportunities did I not even think were possible when I was in school because I was so focused on being an actor? Now that I've reached the end of my life, I think, wow, I can't go back. You made your bed. You're lying in it and having a great time,” says Bates. “I think just having this moment of chatting with you makes me realize that this is what I wanted to do. As difficult as it was, and I can't believe it's been 50 years, I feel like I really want to give people empathy.”

After years of playing supporting roles – including six different disturbing characters in Ryan Murphy's “American Horror Story” series – Bates is playing the lead role for the first time in six years.

The biggest challenge, however, was the stamina required to act in a television drama.

“It's helped me tremendously that I've lost 100 pounds in the last six or seven years,” she says. “I don't think I've been this slim since college.”

She was at her heaviest when she hosted “Harry's Law” for NBC in 2011. “I had to sit down as much as I could. I had trouble walking. I'm ashamed of being so out of shape, but now I have incredible energy.”

Bates says she has no plans to remake “American Horror Story.” And if she does As recently reported, she has decided to retire and hopes to stay on “Matlock” for “several years” initially.

“I can't believe I'm saying this about the TV series, but it's been a great challenge and a great pleasure,” she says. “Matty is definitely my magic carpet at the moment and I want her to keep sailing like that for quite a long time.”